I Didn't Know, Baby Brother
by BelovedShadow
Summary: Something's happening at the Uchiha Complex, that has Itachi Uchiha walking down memory lane.
1. Memory One

**Disclaimer: The setting and characters of this fic are owned by Masashi Kishimoto. This is the formal disclaimer, and it is the only disclaimer, so just read it now and get it over with. I OWN NOTHING. **

**A/N: So as I began to write Itachi's diary entries for the first chapter of Fire and Ice, I realized that I really get fiendishly delighted writing about the Uchiha boys when they were still young. So I started writing this fic, more for my own satisfaction, and decided it would be nice to put it on FF. The events are very similar to the ones described in Fire and Ice, but if you were also delighted reading those diary entries, or if you just want to get my views on the young lives of Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha, then I would say this is a good fic for you. You do not at all need to have read Fire and Ice to understand this, but you may recognize some similarities. I suppose that's all for now, because this authors note is becoming ridiculously long, so,**

**Enjoy!**

"He's pretty!" The raven haired boy exclaimed with glee. Smiling up at his mother as he reached anxiously for the little sleeping bundle in her arms.

"Let me hold him, let me hold him plleeeeeeaaaaassseee?"

Mikoto Uchiha shook her head. "Not unless you sit down, I can't have you dropping him, he's still a newborn."

"I'm not gonna drop him!" Itachi yelled back at her as he scurried over to the couch at a speed that was unnaturally fast, even for a five year old. He squirmed back and forth with excitement.

"C'mon! Okaasan hurry uppppp!"

She sighed and came over to sit next to Itachi, and handed him the baby slowly, to emphasize that he had to be gentle. Itachi took the child from her and somehow held him exactly right without having to be told how. He beamed down at the infant showing more happiness than Mikoto had ever seen from him in his entire life.

Itachi had been a quiet baby, and a quiet boy, always taking in the world around him without any expression, but managing to retain every piece of information that he saw and or learned. Mikoto always figured it was because Itachi was born and somewhat raised during the Great Ninja War, but she was starting to think that the silence was just a part of his personality. He had literally not opened up at all until this morning when she called him from the hospital to tell him that she would shortly be home with his new baby brother, and Mikoto couldn't help but feel a little somber, since she was sure this good mood wouldn't last long.

"He's so beautiful…" Itachi whispered.

"He's a boy, Itachi. He's _handsome_."

Itachi shook his head insistently. "No."

Mikoto decided it was best to just not argue, since she didn't want to drive her older son back into his state of eternal woe.

Fugaku walked into the living room.

"Another son?"

Mikoto nodded her head.

"Good. No more after this one." Fugaku said, walking towards the door.

"What should we name him?" Mikoto called after him. Fugaku ignored her question.

"Did you train this morning, Itachi?"

"Yes Otousan." Itachi replied robotically, now lightly stroking his brother's closed eyelids.

"I was thinking we should name him Sasuke…" Mikoto said, knowing that her husband was sensitive about this subject. He hadn't wanted another child, and he probably would have gone berserk if it was a girl.

"Sasuke's fine." Fugaku said again making his way towards the door.

"Otousan?" Itachi asked, and Mikoto almost fumed with anger at how Fugaku willingly turned around to give Itachi his full attention. She could already tell that she would have to be the more dominant parent when it came to the new baby; Fugaku was already 100% devoted to his older son.

"Yes, Itachi?"

"Don't you want to hold him?" Itachi asked with a confused tone. He had only good memories of his father from his younger years; he didn't understand the man's bitter feelings towards the baby.

Fugaku frowned but held out his hands anyway. Itachi pulled Sasuke closer to his own body.

"Sit down first, I don't want you to drop him, he's only a newborn." Itachi said. Fugaku smirked and sat down next to the older Uchiha boy so that Itachi was sitting between his parents. Itachi handed his father the blanket-clad newborn and he and his mother watched as Fugaku's face slowly but surely formed a smile.

"See? Isn't he pretty?" Itachi said encouragingly. Fugaku nodded his head.

"Yeah, he kind of is…" Fugaku mumbled. Mikoto just shook her head, the only reason Fugaku was even agreeing was because Itachi had said it. They both gasped when the little bundle seemed to come to life. Mikoto rolled her eyes; they were such men to react with such surprise just from the baby waking up.

It moved again, this time reaching very deliberately. He gripped a stray lock of Itachi's hair, and pulled. Itachi laughed, a joyous sound that Mikoto had barely ever heard before, and reached to take his new little brother back.

As the five year old cradled and studied the waking baby, tiny obsidian eyes started to slowly blink open. Itachi gawked at the boy. His immediate thought was _'Oh Kami, it has eyes!' _but he quickly realized the level of complete ignorance that would show, so he didn't speak it aloud. He just stared at it, and it stared at him. Until it's eyes started to water.

"Doesn't he know how to blink?"

Mikoto looked over, having been momentarily distracted by a brief conversation with Fugaku about nothing in particular. She gasped. "Oh my!"

"What? What's wrong with him, is he okay?" Itachi asked frantically. Mikoto smiled at her older son.

"Yes, yes. He's fine. It's just very special of him to have opened his eyes so early, that's all."

"Oh, well isn't he expected to be special?" Itachi asked. He had been raised to believe that his clan was the most elite, and that he himself was to be the most elite of the most elite, so he was sure his brother would be the same way.

"Of course he is." Mikoto said with a smile, and she ruffled Itachi's hair. He stiffened a little but she didn't notice. He didn't like to be touched.

"Okaasan, can he sleep in my room with me?"

"No." Fugaku said.

"?"

"You have too many responsibilities to be worrying about the baby."

"But-"

"No but's Itachi. You are the oldest son of Fugaku Uchiha, and that comes with work. This is not a work hard, play hard family. This is a work hard, then work harder family."

"What about during my free time?"

"Your free time does not _exist _if you have consistent free time, then you should be on a different schedule."

"Yes Otousan." Itachi said. He face went blank. He had been shocked back into his normal self. He passed the baby back to his mother, got up, grabbed his Kunai, and walked out of the door.

'_I didn't know baby brother, I thought you needed my time, and you only needed my love.'_

**A/N: So how did you like this chapter? Each chapter will end with the thoughts of 'future Itachi' that's the way I'm writing this one. So uh, I hope you liked it, and I hope you review and take my poll and what not.**

**I love all the readers!**

**-Beloved**


	2. Memory Two

**A/N: Mkay, so this is the next chapter xD I hope yah like it**

**Enjoy!**

"Neeeeeeee Neeeeeeeee Neeeeeeeeeeeee Neeee Neeeeee,"

"Itachi hold him up correctly-"

"Neee Neeee Neeeeeeeee Neeeeeeee,"

"I _am _that's not why he's making that noise."

" Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,"

"SHUT THE DAMN BABY UP MIKOTO!"

"I'm _trying _to!" Mikoto cried.

"Neeeeeee Neeeeee Neeee Neeeeeeeeee Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Neee Neeeeeeee" Sasuke continued, laughing and smiling gleefully, as if he was singing the most amazing song in the world rather than just repeating the same meaningless sound over and over.

He continued on with his noise and Itachi could tell that their mother was on the verge of tears. She had made the mistake of choosing to bate her sons in the bathroom of the master bedroom instead of the bigger bathroom in the hallway, because with less space there was less tile to clean up after Sasuke made a mess, which he always did.

The problem was that Fugaku was _in _the master bedroom, and he found Sasuke's bath-time chatter to be extremely annoying. Itachi thought it was just about the cutest thing in the world: Sasuke sitting there with shampoo in his hair, giggling and yelling whatever it was that he was trying to say. The more Itachi listened to it, the more he thought he might actually know what the baby was babbling about.

"Okaasan?"

"What, Itachi?"

"Do you think he's trying to say Nii-San?"

"No."

"Why?"

"He hasn't spoken yet, it's very unlikely that he would say that first."

"I don't care; I think that's what he's saying."

"Hold him up _correctly _Itachi!"

"I _am! _He doesn't _like _being held up your way, it makes him cold!"

"!"

Fugaku stormed into the bathroom angrily.

"Is it really too much to ask for some peace and quiet! I have to hear this racket all day! Why must it continue through the night! I get home from work, I deserve a good meal and a made bed, that's it! No noisy little boys in my bathtub!"

"Gomen Nasai, Otousan. It's not her fault, me and Sasuke were the ones-"

"Hush! I'm talking to your mother."

"Hai."

"How old are they now?"

"One and Six."

"I want you to stop bathing them. Itachi's old enough to bathe himself."

"Who will bathe Sasuke?"

"Whoever has time, As long as it's done in the other bathroom! Finish quickly and get them out of here, then I want to see you in private."

"Hai."

Then he was gone. His word was final, there was no going back or fighting against it, but apparently, Sasuke didn't care.

"Neeeee Neeeeeeeeeeeeee,"

"Yes, Otouto?"

"Hi!"

Mikoto just stared at her youngest son in awe. Itachi grinned proudly and finished washing himself and helped his mother to finish up with Sasuke, then finally helped her pull the boy out of he tub. Sasuke always hated getting out of tub, so it was always a project to pull him out.

"Okaasan, I can help him get ready for bed, if you want to go to Otousan now."

"I'd appreciate that, Itachi, thank you."

"Hn."

Itachi wrapped a towel around himself and picked his brother up with ease, cradling the boy's shivering body into his chest, and walked quietly out of the bathroom, trying his very best not to disturb his father.

He carried Sasuke into the nursery and placed him gently on the changing table.

"Stay here, okay?"

"Neee!"

"I'm coming back, just stay still okay? I don't want you to fall off…"

"Kay!"

Itachi smiled. Sasuke hadn't spoken a word before today, but he appeared to already have a basic understanding of the language.

The older Uchiha son gave his brother a soft kiss on the forehead and walked into the hallway to get a towel from the linen closet.

When he came back Sasuke was laying on his back with his foot in his mouth. Itachi chuckled.

"You're so cute." He mumbled to himself, as gently pulled the boy's foot out of his mouth and began the toweling process. Sasuke giggled gleefully.

"Does it tickle?" Itachi asked playfully, now starting to towel the boy extra light just because it tickled him. Sasuke started laughing uncontrollably and a deep red blush decorated his cheeks. Itachi kissed his brother's cheeks gently and lied the now dry baby down on his back so that he could put the diaper on him.

When he was done with the diaper he put Sasuke into his little pajamas. They were pale blue and he looked absolutely adorable in them. Then he placed the baby softly into the crib and tucked him in tightly.

"Goodnight, Otouto."

"Nee!"

"I have to leave."

The baby made a dissatisfied yelp.

"Otousan doesn't want us to sleep in the same room, I'm sure he has some good reason for it."

"Neeeeeeeeee!" The baby whined.

Itachi sighed and picked his brother up. He started rocking the child and sang lightly to him. It wasn't long before he heard the comforted deep breaths of sleep coming out of the babies open mouth. He set the child back down and walked out of the room to his own bed.

'_I didn't know baby brother, I thought I was only being helpful, but you spent so many nights dreaming of me."_

**I took the time to write it, please take the time to review it xD**

**With lots of love,**

**-Beloved**


	3. Memory Three

**A/N: Hey there! I have decided to proceed with this story WITHOUT the yaoi. I know this may come as a disappointment to some, but there are more people who don't want it, and I feel that I write PLETY ItaSasu if that's what you need to get your fix. So it will remain 100% clean. For those of you who are going to stop reading, farewell, it's been grand. For those of you who are staying:**

**Enjoy!**

Itachi Uchiha walked tiredly into his house, he had barely slid his shoes off when he heard his mother bustling hurriedly into the foyer.

"Ita-Kun, thank God, I thought I was going to have to leave him alone until you got here, Oh right! You don't mind keeping an eye on your brother, do you?"

"Of course not." It was a lie. He _did _mind. Sasuke Uchiha had to be the most mischievous two year old in the Universe. You couldn't just _keep an eye _on him. You had to really _watch _him carefully, if you took your eye off of him for a single second, you were certain to find yourself in a sticky situation. However, Itachi understood that as the big brother you just had to suck it up and help out sometimes.

"Thanks so much, I really appreciate it." Mikoto said with a smile, her older son just nodded.

"Alright, well I need to be on my way, he's in his room right now with his toys. I don't know when I'll be back, and your father's out on police business, so you may have him past dinner time, if so there's food in the fridge that I'm sure you can figure something out with... OH! He hasn't had lunch... do you mind?"

"Just go."

She grinned and kissed him on the cheek before racing out of the house. Itachi locked the door behind her and took a deep breath, as long as they had been talking Sasuke was sure to have already gotten into some sort of monkey business. He walked back to the boy's room, fully prepared to take on whatever challenge awaited him.

As he moved further down the hall, he could already hear the toddler yelping out in distress. When he opened the door he found that his Otouto had Managed to stuff all of his alphabet blocks into the jumper he was wearing, and the weight of all the wood was pinning him down to the floor so that he couldn't move.

"Aniki! Help!" He cried out.

Itachi rolled his eyes and kneeled down, carefully removing the blocks one by one, they were wood and the edges were sharp, so he knew that Sasuke was probably already scratched up some, but he was determined not to break anymore of his brother's skin during the removal process.

When he finished the boy smiled at him.

"What do you say?" Itachi said firmly.

"Arigato Aniki!"

"You're welcome. How'd you _do _that?"

Sasuke didn't know enough words to explain exactly, plus he really couldn't mentally pinpoint when his game of seeing how many blocks he could shove up his sleeves had turned so terribly painful. So he just shrugged, smiling gleefully at his brother.

Itachi just chuckled, the kid was cute sometimes.

"That's not how you're supposed to play with these, okay? I'll so you how."

He picked up a few of the blocks and arranged them on the floor for his brother to see.

"You see, that spells out Uchiha Sasuke."

The boy giggled, and pushed away his own name, then handed Itachi another block.

"Ta!" He said excitedly, the elder Uchiha looked at the wooden cube in his hands, surely enough, there was a 'Ta' written on it.

"Yes, this is a Ta, you like this one?"

The boy smiled, that was his favourite letter.

Itachi smirked and placed the Ta on the ground, then grabbled a couple more blocks and formed a word around it.

"Ita!" Sasuke squealed out, laughing. Itachi smiled.

"That's right, it says Itachi. Aniki is spelled like this." He pulled over a few more blocks and showed Sasuke. The boy smiled out his approval.

"Okaasan said you didn't have lunch, are you hungry?"

The child shook his head. Itachi smirked.

"We can play more after you eat, are you _sure _you're not hungry?"

The boy giggled. "Eat." He said. Itachi nodded his head knowingly and stood up. Of course Sasuke was hungry, the kid was almost always hungry, as much as he ate he should be huge by now, but surprisingly enough he was only in the fourth percent tile of body weight for children his age.

He used his hands to push himself onto his feet, butt first then stood up and started waddling his way to the kitchen, Itachi followed closely behind him.

When they reached their destination, Itachi immediately picked Sasuke up and put him in his high chair, hoping that trapping the boy would somehow suffice for now while he figured out what he could make for lunch.

He pulled out some leftover mashed potatoes and heated it up, then set some water to boil for a hot dog. While the hot dog was cooking he set the mashed potatoes in front of his brother, to see how Sasuke would react to them, the boy dipped his finger in then sniffed it inquisitively before ultimately putting the fluffy white food into his mouth. He seemed to like it, and went for more.

When the hot dog was done, Itachi took it out and sliced it up into tiny manageable pieces before setting it on the plate next to the mashed potatoes.

As Sasuke ate, Itachi opened the cabinet to get out the boy's sippy cup, it wasn't in there. It must have been in Sasuke's room.

"Otouto, I'm going to leave you, okay? For _thirty _seconds. Can you possibly make sure not to fall under any misfortune for thirty seconds?"

"Hai!"

Itachi frowned worriedly, then rushed out of the room, retrieved the cup, and came back to see that there were mashed potatoes on every surface within a ten foot radius of his brother's chair, they were also covering said boy from head to toe.

"Oh c'mon! How did you do this! I didn't even give you that much! Now I have to clean the whole kitchen!"

Sasuke started crying, he didn't like when his Nii-San was angry. Itachi ignored his brothers tears. Sasuke continued wailing all the way through the long tedious process of Itachi mopping, bleaching, and wiping down everything. Now the only thing still coated in potato was the culprit himself.

Itachi angrily lifted his brother out of the chair, holding the boy at arms length so as not to get any of the mess on his own clothes he carried him to the main bathroom, then sat him in the otherwise empty bathtub and started the water with the toddler still sitting inside as he stripped the boy of his dirty clothes and tossed them into the hamper sitting next to the sink.

He turned the water off after the tub was half full, Sasuke was soothed by the warm water and finally stopped crying as his brother gently wiped the warm bathing cloth across his chest. When Itachi finished with the easier portion of Sasuke, meaning the parts of his body that had been protected by clothes during the 'potato incident' he started on the boy's face.

Sasuke squirmed, the feeling of having his eyes and nose covered by the rag displeased him and he tried to wiggle away, causing water to splash all over Itachi. The older child froze, took a deep breath, and tried again. This time his brother was a little more compliant.

He didn't run into any more trouble with the bath, until it was time to wash Sasuke's hair.

"Otouto, I need to put water on your hair so that I can wash it."

"Nooooo!" The boy pleaded, he hated getting his hair washed.

"We've got to, if the potato dries in it then it'll only be harder to get out."

Itachi tried to be gentle as he took the bathroom cup and started pouring the clear liquid onto his brother's head, but it didn't matter. Sasuke kicked and screamed, getting water everywhere.

"Be _still_! You're going to get shampoo in your eyes." Itachi warned. The boy had endured the experience of getting soap in his eyes before, and knew that it wasn't a pleasant feeling so he reluctantly stilled himself while Itachi washed and conditioned his raven locks.

When they were done, Itachi lifted his brother out of the tub and wrapped him in a towel, then carried Sasuke with him as he went back into their utility closet to get the mop back out, then returned to the bathroom and sat the boy on the toilet as he cleaned up the water and washed out the tub.

As he was finishing up their mother walked into the bathroom, smiling and lifted up her younger son.

"Did you have a good time with Itachi?" She said beaming, then turned to her older boy. "Thank you so much darling, turns out what I had to do didn't take nearly as long as I expected... why does the kitchen smell like bleach?"

Itachi didn't answer he just gave Sasuke a silent glare and stalked off to his own room to get some much deserved sleep.

_I didn't know, Baby Brother; I thought you were such a pain, when I should have been thinking about how much I love you._

**A/N: If you ignored the one at the top, please go back and read it... **

**Anyway, In a couple of chapters (chapter five) You guys will be getting a glimpse of what's actually going on in the present that has Itachi thinking about all this stuff, cus in case you didn't notice... these have all been flashbacks. And don't worry, Sasuke's not dead! Teh heh... anyway, that's all for now! I'll try to update sooner this time cus I actually have come to understand the plot now that I've made a decision about whether or not to include the yaoi o.O**

**Thank You for reading, You have my love!**

**-Beloved**


	4. Memory Four

"Aniki! Aniki! I passed the second part of the Chunin exam, and the preliminary exercise, now I've just got to beat Gaara in the third part, and-"

"Sorry Sasuke, were you saying something? I was reading."

Sasuke frowned. Yes. He was telling his favourite person in the world about the best day of his life, that's all.

"No, it's fine. It's not that important."

Itachi shrugged, turning back to his book. "If you say so."

"Boys! Dinner!"

"Coming!" Sasuke called back. They all gathered around the table while Fugaku blessed the food.

Nearly ten minutes into their meal, Mikoto looked at her younger son curiously.

"Sasuke, were you here for dinner last night?"

"No, actually I've been in the forest of death for the past five days. I told you about it last week."

"Why the hell would you spend five days in a place like that?" Fugaku asked plainly. Itachi laughed.

"Don't be silly with him Otousan, he's been taking the Chunin exams. I talked to Kakashi about it this morning, remember? Sasuke passed even though he ended up having to fight one of the legendary Sanin in the Forest of death."

"Twenty one genin made it out of the forest of death this year, the test must have been easy." Fugaku commented. Itachi just shrugged.

"Maybe so, either way, I'm very proud of you, Otouto." Itachi said with a smile, ruffling his brother's signature spikes.

Sasuke smiled. "I also won the preliminary against this scary sound-ninja guy who kept sucking my chakra out, without using sharingan at all!" Sasuke exclaimed excitedly.

Mikoto looked like she would have a heart attack.

"Wow, that's impressive..." Itachi commented in amazement.

"Stupid is what it is. Why can't you just be a normal clansman? The sharingan eye is a blessing, Sasuke. You're a fool not to use it... Itachi, what did you do today?"

"The first part of my day is obviously classified." Itachi said, giving his father a glare, he wouldn't tell ANBU business, especially not at the dinner table. "However, I was given a second mission today that was sort of fun. The feudal lord of a neighboring nation got a woman pregnant, and I had to stand guard while she gave birth today, in case the baby was a boy. Luckily for us all, it was a girl."

"Why does it matter?" Sasuke asked curiously.

"The woman wasn't his wife." Itachi said, as if that was a sufficient answer. Sasuke still looked confused.

"It would have caused great scandal if the heir to the throne was born to a street wench, if it was a boy, Itachi would have had to dispose of it." Fugaku explained further.

Sasuke looked at his brother in horror.

"Don't look at me like that, Otouto, I wouldn't have killed the baby." Itachi said with a smile. He gave his father a warning glance. It was a look that was clearly begging him not to tell Sasuke what he would have had to do, but Fugaku ignored it.

"Itachi would have killed the mother, and found a secure location for the baby."

"Why!" Sasuke demanded, near tears. He had always thought that Nii-San was someone to look up to, not a murderer.

Itachi sighed. "To close up any loose ends, that's all."

"If the child were ever to find out that it was in the running to become feudal lord, Itachi would have been assigned to finish the job though."

"Are you _trying _to traumatize him?" Itachi spat at his father. Fugaku just laughed, neither of them noticed the single silent tear that rolled down Sasuke's face. To Itachi, it was just a sad story, to Sasuke, it was like finding out that Santa wasn't real. How could Itachi, _his _Itachi, his _hero_ do something so inhumane?

**-Weeks Later-**

Itachi stepped silently into the window of his bedroom. No, he wasn't sneaking in. He'd been out on a mission for the past three days and his window was simply closer than the front door. He kicked off his shoes and sighed falling back onto his bed instinctively.

He almost fell into sleep when he smelled it. Blood. His own blood. He was covered in it, and now he had spread the displeasing liquid onto his sheets. With an annoyed grunt, he heaved himself out of bed and threw his sheets directly into the waste basket.

At the thought of removing his clothes, he realized that the small rubbish bin under his desk wasn't far enough from his nose to make much of a difference as far as the stench went. So he'd have to go back outside and put the sheets in the dumpster, then. That was at the back of the house, he could exit through the kitchen, but the door locked automatically behind itself and he'd never bothered to ask for a key to that particular door.

Hm... he could walk out using the kitchen door then hop back in through Sasuke's window. There that would work. His Otouto always got hot at night, so the window should be open, and if it wasn't, Itachi would just set aside his laziness and use the front door. No problem.

He emptied the waste basket into a small bag and tiptoed towards the kitchen. For a second, he thought he heard something, but convinced himself that he was just being paranoid after being stabbed in the back-literally- and dismissed the intrusive sound.

The journey to the dumpster and back was quick and Sasuke's window was open as expected. Itachi slipped in quietly, but was shocked for two different reasons, firstly he was shocked that Sasuke was awake and holding a Kunai, ready to throw it, and secondly that there were tears still silently streaming down the child's face. A sob. That's what he'd heard earlier. Sasuke had been crying.

The younger Uchiha's face softened considerably after realizing that it was his brother who'd leapt into his room, not someone trying to hurt him, but his angelic features were still tainted with sadness.

"Otouto, what's wrong?" Itachi asked, quickly showing signs of concern, he was at his brother's bedside in an instant, one hand on the boy's forehead checking his temperature, another on his wrist, checking his pulse. Sasuke pulled away violently.

"Don't touch me, I hate you."

_Ouch. _"Why?" Itachi choked out. He'd been hated by many people, and was quite indifferent about 'hate' as an emotion all together, but hearing it from Sasuke was different. It was like getting smacked by a weak woman, it didn't really hurt in a physical way, or in any way that your mind was able to comprehend, it just stung in your heart.

Sasuke just sobbed more, now nearly choking on his breath. Whatever he was crying about, Itachi's presence only seemed to be upsetting him more. The weasel rose to leave.

"That's right, Aniki! Leave me in here all alone, just like you always do!"

Itachi froze. Did he do that? Always?

"Scoot over." Itachi said silently, Sasuke was either too confused or too far gone in his state of depression to realize that if he really wanted Itachi to leave scooting over wasn't logical, so he slid himself to the far side of his bed and Itachi lied down next to him tiredly.

"You know you can't sleep in here." Sasuke said almost calmly. It wasn't a real calm, it was too intense. It was the calm before the storm.

"I'm not going to sleep in here. I'm not going to sleep at all until you tell me what's wrong, but I would greatly appreciate if you would hurry up and let it out because I haven't slept in days and I was hoping to get some rest before the sun comes up."

"Don't try to guilt me into anything, it won't work, I don't feel guilty for keeping murderers awake." Sasuke said in the same menacingly calm tone he'd used before.

"Murderers?" Itachi demanded in a shocked and somewhat offended tone.

Sasuke just nodded, the crying had stopped and now if Itachi didn't know the child so well he might have actually thought that Sasuke was feeling better, but he _did _know his Otouto. _Extremely _well, so he was very much aware that Sasuke was even worse now than he was when he'd been crying earlier, because now he was keeping it in, and if he kept doing that for too long, it could only turn into one thing: Rage.

"Why do you think I'm a murderer?" The elder asked, this time making sure to make his voice sound inquisitive rather than accusatory.

"In your last mission, you said that you might have had to kill that baby's mother, and maybe the baby when it got older. Now you come tumbling into my window in your boxers with your hands covered in blood. Clearly you've killed someone, but why did you do it in your underwear?"

Itachi didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he did neither.

"Sasuke," Itachi began. His brother's name sounded so strange on his lips, he rarely addressed his Otouto as Sasuke, but he had to make it clear that what he was about to say was very serious. "I didn't kill anyone. I fought someone much stronger than I, and he stabbed me in the back."

"Why did you trust him in the first place?" Sasuke asked, now _very _confused. Itachi chuckled.

"I don't mean he stabbed me in the back in the metaphorical way, he didn't betray me. He _stabbed _me, see?" Itachi rolled over exposing the jagged scar on his back that was still about four different shades of purple and blue. He was good enough at medical ninjutsu to heal the wound, but not very neatly.

"Oh... well... why do you strip when you get stabbed?" It was an honest question, Itachi could tell that, but he still had to hold back a laugh.

"I don't, My clothes are covered in blood and I threw them out in the dumpster, then-"

"Climbed in through my window cus you're a lazy bastard."

Itachi smiled, but he could still sense some underlying chaos in Sasuke's mood. So that wasn't the only thing bothering him.

"What else has you upset?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie to me, you were crying when I got here, I can't take all the blame... did you lose today?"

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

"The third portion of the Chunin exams was today right? Did you lose?"

"No... I didn't lose." Sasuke whimpered out, his voice cracked painfully on the last word, Itachi waited. "I... won... I did it, but..." The first tear fell. "Nobody was there to see." Sasuke whispered the last part, and then he broke, his entire attempt to keep his cool faded with that last word and he was reduced to a sobbing, gasping, crying, mess.

Itachi held his brother while he cried, but he had to admit, he didn't understand how that could have happened. If no one was watching the fight, how did Sasuke know he'd won? Certainly someone was there, or it wouldn't have actually been the Chunin exams at all.

_I didn't know, Baby Brother, I thought you were foolish to not see a crowd full of people, when the only face you'd been looking for was mine._


	5. Present

Itachi sighed and looked back down at the tear stained piece of notebook paper in his hands, he read it over a third time, still not believing what it said.

_Dear Family,_

_ If you're reading this, I'm already gone. I know this may come as a shock to you, since none of you pay attention enough to notice that I've been unhappy with our current living situation for quite some time now. I care too much about all of you to make you spend your time with me, and it's clear that none of you really want to, so I'm just removing myself from our home so that you can all live happy lives with out me..._

_Okaasan and Otousan, I'll miss you so much! I wish you two had taken the time to get to know me, but I understand that you've been busy with your more perfect son, it makes sense that I'd be set on the back burner._

_Aniki, I think I'll miss you the most... I love you so much. Did you know that? I've always wanted to be just like you, but it seems like whenever I try it goes unnoticed, unappreciated, or both. There are so many things I would have wanted to say to you, so much happening in my life that I wanted to share with you; but you're always busy. I guess I must sound like a brat to you, and It's not fair for me to want your attention, but that's how I feel, so take it or leave it._

_Yours Truly,_

_Sasuke Uchiha_

He couldn't believe his eyes. Sasuke.. ran... away. What an awful thought. It couldn't really be happening could it? Was the boy really that unhappy? So many thoughts flushed into Itachi's head, so many memories, so many times that he should have seen... should have noticed... should have fixed things.

He felt like such a fool, it was like he could see Sasuke's entire life flashing before his eyes. When had it all gone wrong? Why hadn't he changed things when he had the chance?

"Itachi! Where are you?" The raven frowned, they'd just gotten home from a dinner party, Sasuke had opted to stay home. Why were his parents looking for Itachi instead of their younger son, weren't they even going ask him how _his _night had gone while they were out having fun?

Then it struck Itachi like a blow to the head. No. His parents wouldn't ask. They wouldn't search for Sasuke. They wouldn't even notice that he was gone for quite some time. But... that couldn't really be his fault could it? No, of course not. He'd gotten home and gone straight to his brother's room. That made him the good guy, right? Wrong.

All he could feel was guilt, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, he was so caught in his thoughts that he hardly even understood what he was saying or what was going on until he heard the morbid phrase that snapped him out of his trance:

"I'm sorry sir, but you can't place a missing person's report this soon after the incident, you need to wait forty-eight hours and call again if he hasn't been located."

He froze. No. That wasn't acceptable. "_What?_ My brother is _gone_! And _my_ family runs the police force and _you _are telling _me _that you won't look for him?"

"Again, I apologize Uchiha-Samma, but you're father's words are law. Even you can't order me to go against him."

He hung up the phone with a click and threw on his jacket before racing into the living room where his father was reading silently.

"Otousan, Sasuke's gone!"

"Hn." The man said going back to his reading.

"PUT THE FUCKING BOOK DOWN AND _LISTEN _TO ME!" Itachi screamed. His mother came rushing into the room from the kitchen to see what was the matter.

Fugaku placed the book on the table and looked up at his son with a face that showed pure annoyance.

"I heard you, you said you're brother's gone. Is that all?"

"He's not here! He up and left!" Itachi repeated, not understanding why his parents were being so nonchalant about the situation.

"Mikoto, how old is he?"

"Five years younger than Itachi." The weasel fumed, since when was 'five years younger than Itachi' an age? Why were his parents such ass holes? Had they really been like this all along, why hadn't he seen?

"See there, son. He's fourteen years old, it's only ten o'clock. That seems appropriate. Stop trying to get your brother into trouble." Fugaku said, reaching for his book.

"You don't _understand_! He's run away, he's not coming back, we have to find him! Tell the police to look for him."

Fugaku scoffed. "I'm not wasting my men for such nonsense. He'll be back in the morning, he's nothing without his name. Why on earth would he abandon the Uchiha clan?"

"He's worth a lot more than his name! I'm looking for him."

"No, sweetheart, please don't go out there, it's late..."

"Exactly. And Sasuke's out there alone."

"Fugaku, don't let him go."

"Itachi, you heard your mother."

"Does anyone in this house love that kid except for me?" Itachi spat harshly. That at least caught Mikoto's attention. Fugaku just looked up in an angry huff.

"Of course we love him, Itachi. But you're worth a lot more, I can't have you wandering the streets at-"

"You can't place value on your children, Dad!" Itachi yelled.

He closed his eyes for a moment calming himself, then rose and walked calmly to the front door.

"Where are you going?" Mikoto choked out sadly, she was now crying, either from realizing how Neglected Sasuke was or from the idea of Itachi disobeying them so openly.

"To find my baby brother." Itachi answered, slamming the door behind him.

The first place to look was the Hyuuga complex, maybe Sasuke would be with his friend Neji, the train ride there was long and lonely, it gave Itachi too much time with his thoughts.

_I know now, Baby Brother. I think I'm finally starting to understand._

**A/N: This fic is not over here, in case you were wondering. For god's sake, you don't think I would leave it like this, do you?**

**Please Review!**

**I love all the readers,**

**-Beloved**


	6. Memories Five And Six

**A/N: This chapter has two memories, partly because I want the memory number to match up with the chapter number, and also because the two that I came up with are so short and they both represent the same thought in Itachi's head, so I decided to join them. Enjoy!**

**Memory Five:**

Itachi jolted awake to the sound of soft footsteps approaching his room, the poor innocent door was already being glared at with Sharingan eyes before Itachi came to his senses and realized that he was at home, footsteps were normal here, and there was nothing to worry about. Only a few moments later he heard a familiar soft knock.

"Come in, Otouto." Sasuke slid the door open silently and padded into his brother's room.

"I can't sleep." He whispered somewhat hesitantly, looking down at his feet as if insomnia was a shameful thing. Itachi rolled his eyes, it really wasn't fair that he was always the one who had to be bothered with this, they _did _have parents after all.

"What am I supposed to do about that?"

"Can you come tuck me in?"

The elder Uchiha sighed with an annoyed tone and lazily slid out of bed. Sasuke was nearly ten years old, he wasn't of age to be tucked in anymore, and he was never satisfied with someone just pulling the covers up over him. He always wanted a bedtime story first.

They walked silently to Sasuke's room. Itachi being quiet because he was tired and pissed off, and Sasuke being quite because he could tell.

"Nii-San... you don't have to if you don't want to." Sasuke whispered.

Itachi frowned. Yes he did. He had to, or else that made him the bad guy.

"Don't victimize yourself Sasuke, let's just get this over with."

Sasuke nodded. He didn't actually understand what it meant to victimize one's self but he figured it was bad and whether it was bad or not, his Aniki had told him not to do it, so he would stop.

He climbed into bed quickly and snuggled into the covers as Itachi tucked them around him. Then followed his brother with his eyes, over to the chair where Itachi seated himself.

Itachi felt a little bad, he was starting to wake up a bit more and felt kind of like a douche bag, since he knew it hurt Sasuke's feelings that he didn't want to spend his time like this.

"Look, Otouto. I'm not mad at you, okay? It's just-... well, I'm not mad, alright? You didn't do anything wrong."

"Okay." Sasuke said smiling. The hurt was completely wiped off of his face, that easily. It was a skill to be able to control your emotions that way.

"Good, so... Once upon a time, there was a little prince named-"

"No, Aniki, tell the story the other way, with your eyes."

"Sasuke, I'm much too tired for that right now."

"Pleeeeaaaaassseeee?" The child begged insistently, pouting.

Itachi sighed in defeat and closed his left eye. Sasuke waited patiently and looked directly at the intricate black on red pattern of the elder's eye when Itachi finally opened it. The child opened his mind freely to his brother and smiled when he found himself atop a beautiful white horse in a grand kingdom. He was dressed in a gorgeous hand made traditional robe and his feet were bare but remarkably clean.

"I'm the prince!" He exclaimed excitedly.

Itachi concentrated on what he wanted Sasuke to see, usually the easiest part of trapping someone within in Tsukuyomi was that it didn't take very long for them to get tired and weary from the pain, so it was actually much more tiring to keep it up without hurting the individual.

He lead Sasuke through the imaginary kingdom, taking the boy on great adventures with other knights, and castles. Together he and Sasuke battled dragons and ogres and other beasts of the wild. Even without any pain, Itachi did make sure that they did things to tire Sasuke out, like running from a tiger through the jungle in India, and by the time the "bedtime story" was over Sasuke was completely exhausted.

Itachi smiled easing the boy out of the trance and looking to see that he should be able to collapse any minute. Good.

"Thank you, Nii-San."

"Hn." He said closing his left eye tiredly and rising to leave the room.

"I love you, goodnight."

Itachi smiled. "I love you too, Otouto."

**Memory Six:**

"Aniki! Aniki! Aniki! Come quick! Hurry up! Come see!"

Itachi stopped in his tracks, he had just entered the Uchiha complex, and was on his way to his house when he heard Sasuke's call from the dojo. He frowned, he'd had a long day and really didn't have time to see whatever it was that his brother was so excited about, he was grabbing supplies and then going back on the road.

"Can't you just tell me about it?" He called back, already making his way towards the dojo anyway.

"No, come look!"

Itachi sighed, and entered quietly, kicking his shoes off and placing them neatly on the step by the door he turned to face the sound of Sasuke's voice, and was instead taken completely aback by the child's eyes.

Red.

A beautiful flaming read, with a single black spot near the top of each. The weasel smiled proudly.

"And just when I thought we'd have to break down and tell you that you're adopted, you've proven yourself to be an Uchiha after all."

Sasuke stuck his tongue out menacingly then quickly leapt back a few feet and pulled a kunai out from his pouch.

"Fight me!"

Itachi looked at his brother with a face showing utter amusement.

"Absolutely not."

"Why? I'm stronger and faster now! My eyes can keep up with you."

"No they can't. Not even if I closed mine."

"Keep yours open!" Sasuke yelled insistently, aiming a series of ninja tools Itachi's direction.

The elder dodged each attack with ease, his own eyes never brightened from their casual obsidian colour and still he didn't find Sasuke's advances to be any more threatening than a honey bee.

"I really should be going, now. I've got other stuff to do."

"Wait, Nii-San! Just one more time, I'm sure I can get you."

"No."

"Fine! Just let me win once, please?"

"Forgive me, Sasuke. Again, next time."

_I didn't know Baby Brother. I always thought my time was so precious, but I failed to see the value in the moments we spent together._


	7. Memory Seven

**A/N: Oh shit! Looky here! Is this an update I spy! Indeed it is!**

Warning: Impending Itachi-meaniness. Tsk Tsk Tsk... 

**Enjoy!**

Itachi threw himself somewhat angrily out of bed and slugged his way down the steps. He was half-asleep, and half determined to slap whoever was ringing the doorbell so determinedly. When he finally reached the threshold, he slid the door opened and looked slightly down at the disturbing sight of a small child who looked like a cupcake come-to-life. Itachi didn't care for cupcakes.

The Uchiha didn't say anything to the little pastry-child, instead he glared down at her, waiting for her to state her business.

"Ehm... thisisforsasukekun!" The girl yelled, thrusting a small pink box into Itachi's hand then dashing away from the complex, clearly frightened of the young ANBU.

Itachi confusedly closed the door again, and turned to call his otouto, only to have a loud knock alert his senses once more. He growled slightly to himself and turned back towards the entryway, sliding it open again and revealing yet _another _little cupcake girl. This was lemon icing instead of strawberry.

"Is.. is you're brother home?"

"Sleeping." Itachi responded. As he grew older, he'd taken to challenging himself and seeing if he could give one-word replies whenever possible. It made conversation so much more brief and simple, he was greatly enjoying it.

"Could you... wake him?"

"No."

The little dessert frowned. "Then... would you mind giving him this?"

Itachi held out his hand and received another small box. This one was wrapped in blue. Again, the girl scurried away like a mouse. He reached to close the door but discontinued the motion when he saw a third youngster walking across the lawn. Wordlessly, he held his hand out and stood there at the door as girl after girl lined up at the house and gave him gifts for his brother.

The boxes were beginning to vary in size now, some larger than the first two small ones. Some heart-shaped, decorated with red ribbon and white lace. Itachi was no longer even taking the time to converse with the children, and they seemed to understand that. He was using his mental space to try and figure out what was going on. It certainly wasn't Sasuke's birthday- he wasn't so terrible of a brother as to have forgotten that. It wasn't Christmas, it had been over a month since then.

As the last girl dropped her box onto the stack building on the porch, Itachi felt her tugging on his shirt- drawing him out of his thoughts.

"Itachi-Kun, I didn't know if Sasuke-Kun was lactose-intolerant or not, so the chocolate I got him is dark instead of milk chocolate. There's no nuts or anything in it either. Could you tell him?"

"Hn." The weasel replied, but his mind was elsewhere.

It was the middle of February, and girls were giving the boy they liked chocolate... oh. It was _that _holiday. He shivered in disgust as he none-to-carefully kicked all of the chocolates into the foyer. He slammed the door behind himself and decided that no one- _no one _was going to disturb his peace again. Even if the damn Hokage showed up at the door, it would _not _be answered. Not by Itachi.

He looked over at the clock. It was ten in the morning. Lovely. He'd had time to sleep in and he'd spent it standing on the porch, now he had to get ready to leave.

"Otouto!" He called impatiently. He knew Sasuke hated being woken up like that, and much preferred a gentle shake- or a tomato waved in front of his nose; but there was no time for such theatrics.

"Otouto! Wake up and come downstairs!"

The ANBU registered the sound of a small yawn and heard his eleven year old brother slowly padding his way out of his room, until alas he could visibly see the young child groggily wiping his eyes as he walked down the stairs.

"Yes, Aniki?" Sasuke asked, stretching his arms above his head and sighing at the relieving feeling.

Itachi pointed to the stack of chocolate. "Yours."

Sasuke sniffed the air and shook his head. "I don't like sweets, you can have it."

"_I _don't like sweets either, Sasuke!"

The boy shrugged. "Then you shouldn't have accepted them." He said, turning to go upstairs and back to bed.

"I accepted them for _you. _Stop being an ungrateful brat and do something with them! We'll _both_ get an earful if Otousan comes downstairs and sees the living room like this."

"Don't be so self-righteous, Itachi-Nii. What, because you bring in some huge pile of junk that I don't even want all of a sudden you're the world's best brother? You've spent the last forty-eight hours in your room doing _nothing _even though I was _begging _for some time with you all weekend! Now you finally decide we're speaking again, and it's to give me some lousy _chocolate? _No, thanks!"

They glared at each other for a moment until Itachi rearranged his features to portray a look of total detachment. He walked around his distraught little brother and went upstairs to grab the things he needed for his mission. In the distance, he was aware of certain sounds and movements. Sasuke walking up the stairs, Sasuke walking into their parent's bedroom. Sasuke sniffling and whining about something incoherent and probably unimportant. Still, Itachi was forever curious. He snuck out of his door and listened at the entryway to his parent's room, able to make out their entire conversation.

"But, he was so _mean... _he hasn't spent any time with me at all! Now he's gonna ignore me _again!_"

"Sasuke, we're trying to sleep. It's Sunday. Go play with your friends."

"I don't _wanna _play with my friends! I wanna hang out with Nii-San."

"You're a distraction to Itachi. Leave him alone, and get out. We're going back to bed."

Itachi frowned at his father's harsh words, and darted back to his own room. He quickly finished packing up and walked over to his window to take the lazy way out of the house. The last sound he heard, were the muffled sobs of his little brother as the child cried to himself under his covers.

_I didn't know, Baby Brother. I thought you to be such an irrational brat, but we were the ones who were such fools. Your wishes were so much more reasonable than mine._

**A/N: Sorry, I know Itachi's pretty mean in this chapter, but every sixteen-year-old is kind of an ass-hole know-it-all. In their own way. (Yes, I also speak for myself at sixteen when I say that) **

**PLEASE review, also if you're reading Reckless Abandon drop by my poll! **

**I love you for reading! **

**-Beloved**


End file.
